The Southfield demo dropped over the Steam Next Fest event and we got a chance to look at it early. I have a lot of reservations after playing around, but it is just a demo, so I’m not going to hold any of that against it. I will talk a bit about what I noticed, liked, and disliked. With a demo available, definitely try it out for yourself, and don’t just take my word for it.
Southfield prides itself on the silly, weird, and playful. These words are used heavily throughout their descriptions and I can certainly agree that there’s a wackiness to it. However, it’s not as weird as, say, Goat Simulator. Honestly, it’s pretty standard in terms of farming and building games.
You build a farm that you eventually automate and you build your base. These are pretty solid tenants of the genre. With this game, the devs heavily recommend using a controller, however, I feel like the controls at this point just aren’t intuitive.
It’s finicky when you try to build and having to press ‘X’ to interact is a little off-putting just because that’s not the standard button. Not only that, but things don’t always go into your inventory automatically.
When you’re pulling from crops, you grab it with ‘X’, then you have to drag your character backward until it pops out of the ground, and then put it in your inventory with ‘B’. It’s a lot of steps for something that could just instantly go into your storage – which some things do. (I haven’t figured out the rules yet).
Speaking of inventory… where is it? Is it in the room with us right now? Maybe it was just locked out because of the demo, but you only have access to a hot bar of 9 items. Everything else goes into your overflow inventory. The game said I could get there in the options menu and there’s even a backpack graphic that says as much… and yet, no items.

I ran around the whole island picking up all manner of items and they might as well not exist. Take this qualm with a grain of salt because there’s no way the inventory won’t exist when it is released. It was just an odd detail for a demo or I’m just blind.
Personally, I’m not the type of person who enjoys the depth of construction that some games take. I play games to decompress and if I need what feels like a degree in engineering, I don’t want it. I didn’t get the vibe that this was that situation, but I also didn’t stick around the farm to do any intense building either.
Once the dome that kept me in the starting zone came down, I ran out and never returned. Running around Southfield was probably the most fun. I really enjoyed all the different items that I could pick up and, on just one small island, there were so many different types of sections that all felt different, but still flowed together well.
I have a sneaking suspicion that all my issues stem from not having access to the sort of actions that allow you to simplify farming. As one would expect from a demo, you’re given your basics to get a handle on the game and the rest is meant to come later.
I can certainly see the charm in Southfield. The design of the main character is simple but effective. You play as some silly little guy and I think that’s something we can all enjoy. I liked that there were customization options outside of just changing colors. For instance, there were patterns as well. I imagine there will be more options upon release or at least a way to earn additional adornments.
Welcome to Southfield, ignore the giant floating rock of power.

In terms of monsters, you don’t really have to worry about what goes bump in the night until 24:00. At that point, the floating obelisk structure will begin to glow and explode with green, glowing debris that scatters across the island. At this point, elemental-type ghosts called Ruffians pop up across the lands. As far as I can tell, they don’t do damage, they just give you an effect like being dizzy which makes your character walk backward for around 3-5 seconds.
All in all, there’s some interesting stuff here that would be fun to explore. If you’re into farming survival-type games with an almost fantasy vibe to it, you should give the Southfield demo a try.
Ultimately, I don’t think it will be a game that I get, but I can see how Southfield would be an incredible experience, especially with friends. Just be aware that if you have an older computer, this will need to be dropped to the lowest graphics setting. It’s me… I’m the one with the older computer. Send help.
I’d be interested to know your thoughts about the demo and if there’s anything you’re looking forward to with Southfield. If you haven’t already, feel free to check out our reviews section. Your next game obsession may be hiding there.
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